IPS, USPCASE-NUST to hold joint research on energy and power sector policies

A delegation from U.S. Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy (USPCASE), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) visited IPS on January 27, 2022 to discuss different arenas of cooperation and collaboration in promoting policy-oriented research, especially to address the pressing issue of the power sector of Pakistan.

The visiting delegation, which was headed by Dr Adeel Waqas, dean and principal, NUST, and comprised Dr Majid Ali, HoD, Department of Thermal Engineering and Fawad Khan, industry liaison officer, was welcomed by Chairman IPS Khalid Rahman along with the Institute’s team including General Manager Operations Naufil Shahrukh, Senior Research Officer Syed Nadeem Farhat, Manager Outreach Shafaq Sarfraz, Research Officer M Wali Farooqui, and Hamza Naeem and Lubna Riaz from the Institute’s Energy, Water, and Climate Change desk.

The guests expressed their interest in working together with IPS over the outstanding issues of the power sector, mainly the piling up of the circular debt and the lack of governance in policy matters, as well as to promote integration of renewable energy in the country.

The delegates apprised that USPCASE was equipped with the state-of-the-art laboratories and resources which provide an adequate technical support for testing and application of innovative research in the fields of electric power markets, renewable energy grid integration, smart grids, high voltage assembly, solar PV and thermal applicability, biomass and waste to energy conversion, batteries and storage devices, and energy storage materials –which can be efficiently utilized to address the issues in the power sector of Pakistan indigenously.

IPS welcomed the proposal to engage itself to mount the technical capabilities of USPCASE in the regulatory and policy framework for the development of the power sector.  Moreover, proposals of joint publications, initiation of awareness programs, seminars, special issues of the journals and joint programs to enhance the capacity building of the stakeholders of the power sector were also discussed.

Furthermore, IPS and USPCASE, NUST agreed to engage the policy circles and business community of the country to promote green and cheap energy sources, while forming a pragmatic framework against the issues which have been snubbing the growth of the energy sector.